Canada's favourite red-headed orphan is turning 100, and Ryerson is throwing her a party.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first publication of Anne of Green Gables, the beloved children's classic by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The first book in the eight-volume series about the charming P.E.I. orphan Anne Shirley has been translated into more than 20 languages and sold about 50 million copies worldwide, and has also spawned multiple film adaptations and musicals.

A lot is happening this year to celebrate Anne's centenary, including the publication of several Anne or Montgomery-related titles and the release of a new TV movie, and Ryerson is getting into the act.

The six students in Irene Gammel's Anne-related arts and contemporary studies class are organizing a symposium to celebrate the Canadian icon and draw attention to her Toronto and Ryerson connections.

In 1942, Ryerson Press became the first Canadian publisher to release an edition of Anne of Green Gables, and Gammel said that Montgomery lived her last years in a house on Toronto's Riverside Drive.

Mandy Wilson, a fourth-year arts student and one of the conference organizers, said she appreciates Ryerson's connection with a book she loved in her childhood.

"That's something to be proud of, as Ryerson students," she said.
The symposium will feature scholarly and creative presentations by students and researchers alike, which will illustrate various facets of the novel. Proposals will be accepted until Feb. 20, and Gammel said the organizers have received about 15 to 20 expressions of interest so far from scholars hailing from across Canada.

"I think it will be a very significant event," Gammel said.

Ryerson students have lots to say about Anne too - one has proposed to sing a song from the popular musical based on Anne of Green Gables, and Gammel's class will be presenting their own projects exploring a wide variety of the facets of Anne.

Wilson said she will be researching the relationship between the book covers of different editions and their respective eras. Fellow organizer Sittipon Chanarat, meanwhile, is discussing the influence of imaginary friends - which the creative Anne interacted with vividly.

Chanarat, the only male student in the class, said he was daunted at first by the book's predominantly female cast of characters. But once he started reading the book, he couldn't put it down.

"Everyone can identify with Anne of Green Gables, because everyone's had a childhood, and everyone's been lonely," he said.

Gammel, Ryerson's Canada Research Chair in modern literature and culture, is a noted Montgomery scholar who has an Anne-related book of her own coming out six days before the April 7 symposium. Entitled Looking for Anne, the book details the influences Montgomery absorbed and used to create her most beloved character.

Gammel believes Anne Shirley's enduring appeal stems in part from her "very strong charismatic personality," with her colourful nature and compelling way of speaking, but also from her multifaceted nature. She charms readers across generational and cultural lines with her infinite variety.

Gammel, Chanarat and Wilson all said they hope the symposium will express something of this complexity of the Canadian literary icon, for an audience of students and scholars alike.

"A lot of people see Anne of Green Gables as a simple children's book, but it's not," Chanarat said.

The details of the conference are still being finalized, and the organizers need to raise about $1,000 to cover their $1,500 budget. The office of provost and vice-president academic Alan Shephard has already donated $500, and he and president Sheldon Levy have pledged their support for the event along with the heads of the arts and contemporary studies and English programs.

Wilson and Chanarat said they've really appreciated the event-planning aspect of the course, since practical applications are rarities in English literature classes. The students are responsible for organizing every aspect of the symposium, from the solicitation of proposals and donations to the booking of a facility at Ryerson.

"It's not just theory," Wilson said.